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BRP Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76)
|Ship flag= |Ship name=USS Booth (DE-170) |Ship builder=Federal Drydock & Shipbuilding Co. |Ship ordered=1942 |Ship laid down=30 January 1943 |Ship launched=21 June 1943 |Ship commissioned=19 September 1943 |Ship decommissioned=10 December 1945 |Ship struck=15 July 1978 |Ship fate=Loaned to Philippine Navy in 1967, sold as FMA 1978.NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive. USS Booth (DE 170). }} |module2= |Ship name=RPS Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76) |Ship namesake=Datu Kalantiaw was said to be a chief on the island of Negros who, in 1433, created the first legal code in the Philippines, known as the Code of Kalantiaw. |Ship operator=Philippine Navy |Ship acquired=15 December 1967 |Ship commissioned=1967 |Ship fate=Ran aground by Typhoon Clara on 21 September 1981. }} |module3= |Ship beam= |Ship draft= 8.75 ft |Ship power=6,000 hp |Ship propulsion=4 × GM 16-278A Diesel Engines with electric drive |Ship speed=21 knots (maximum) |Ship range=10,800 mi at 12 knots |Ship armament=* 3 × Mk.22 3"/50 caliber gun dual purpose guns * 1 × Mk.1 Twin Bofors 40 mm gun * 8 × Mk.4 Oerlikon 20 mm * 1 × Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (144 rounds) * 8 × Mk.6 Depth Charge Projectors * 2 × Mk.9 Depth Charge Tracks * 3 × Mk.15 21" Torpedo Tubes }} }} The BRP Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76) was the first of three ex-USN that served with the Philippine Navy, the others being [[BRP Datu Sikatuna (PF-5)|BRP Datu Sikatuna (PS-77/PF-5)]] and [[BRP Rajah Humabon (PF-11)|BRP ''Rajah Humabon (PS-78/PF-11)]]. She was also the flagship of the Philippine Navy from 1967 to 1981. History Commissioned in the US Navy as the in 1943, she was mostly assigned at the Atlantic theatre doing escort duties for UGS and GUS convoys. She served in the Pacific theater in the middle of 1945 until she was decommissioned on 14 June 1946. ''Booth was placed in "deferred disposal status pending possible transfer to a foreign government" on 7 July 1947, and two days later was towed back to Mayport by ATA-209, where the former convoy escort was inactivated on 28 July 1947. Reconditioned by the Brewer Dry Dock Co., Staten Island, New York, the ship was loaned to the Republic of the Philippines under the Military Assistance Program on 15 December 1967. The Philippine Navy commissioned her on that day at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as RPS Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76). On 30 June 1975, while she was still operating on loan under a foreign flag, the destroyer escort was redesignated a frigate, FF-170. Subsequently, given the Philippine Navy's continuing need for the ship "in the interest of National Defense Requirements and in the furtherance of the Security Alliance between the Philippines and the United States," the U.S. Navy disposed of her by Foreign Military Sale and Booth was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 July 1978. On July 1980, in line with the re-classification of all Philippine Navy ships, she was renamed BRP Datu Kalantiaw (PS-76) using a localized prefix to replace the previously used English prefix. Datu Kalantiaw continued to serve under the Philippine flag until Typhoon Clara drove her aground on 21 September 1981 on the rocky northern shore of Calayan Island, in the northern Philippines. Ammunition ship USS Mount Hood (AE-29), as she neared Subic Bay that day, slated for a period of upkeep, received orders to "get underway again that evening to coordinate rescue operations" at the scene of the tragedy. Consequently, Mount Hood, working in concert with Philippine Navy units "in a most adverse weather environment," retrieved 49 bodies in two days of operations, and ultimately sailed for Manila to turn them over to Philippine authorities, rescuers no longer hearing tapping from inside the ship that lay on her beam ends where Clara had cast her. Soon thereafter, Rear Admiral Simeon Alejandro, Flag Officer in Command of the Philippine Navy, "made an emotional address to the officers and men of Mount Hood upon the ship's arrival on Manila," the auxiliary's historian records, "thanking each man for his part in the mission and offering the gratitude of the Philippine nation to the Captain and crew." One contemporary account called the loss of Datu Kalantiaw "one of the worst disasters in the history of the Philippine Navy," 79 of the 97-man crew perishing.''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. USS Booth page. Gallery File:RPS Datu Kalantiaw aground 1.jpg|An aerial view of the capsized Philippine destroyer escort BRP Datu Kalantiaw PS-76 during the Military Airlift Command`s Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service rescue operations. File:RPS Datu Kalantiaw aground 2.jpg File:RPS Datu Kalantiaw aground 3.jpg|A view of the capsized Philippine destroyer BRP Datu Kalantiaw. References External links * Philippine Defense Forum - RPS Datu Kalantiaw PS-76 * NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive * Naming and Code Designation of PN Ships Category:Datu Kalantiaw-class frigates Category:Ships built in New Jersey Category:1943 ships Category:Maritime incidents in 1981 Category:Shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea